Good point about Redz's defense on Rose. Rondo doesn't shoot the mid-range jumper as well as Rose so the goal is to stay in front of him, and I think Delonte could do it as well or better than any of the guards.

I would alternate Redz and Parker on Rondo and put Mo on Ray Allen. Just tell Mo to stick with him and contest every 3-point shot. If he wants to drive, fine. Have Shaq squash him like a bug the first time he pump fakes and takes it to hole and it will be his last.

I think Larvell is right about having Jamison run the baseline to keep Garnett moving. He can also pop out to the 3-point line to pull KG away from the paint. Run the old man ragged. But Jamo is not that young, either, so I'd like to see Roker give Hickson a shot at KG. I'm not saying it will work, but his energy and movement might be effective after KG has been chasing Jamo back and forth from the baseline to the 3-point line.

Does Z have a role in this series? When Shaq needs a blow will Z come in or will we see the small lineup again?

For what it's worth, the Cavs had yet to play the Celtics at full strength.

Opening game: Jamison was still a Wizard. Roker experiments with Shaq and Z on the floor together. Cavs lose a close one in the Garden.

Feb game: No Z and Shaq only played 12 minutes due to the thumb injury. Cavs win without their big men.

March game: No Shaq, no Z. We still blew them out.

April game: No Shaq, no Varajao. Lost by four in Boston.

This series the Cavs will have everybody available for the first time. Now I'm feeling better about that Cavs in 5 prediction. It's on Roker, though, to figure out which combinations work the best depending on who the Celtics have in there.

Maybe the cat made the pick, maybe it didn't. It's bullimic and retarded so mostly it just pisses me off. But in between heaves I swear it blurted out something about Milwaukee's record in march 7 April.

Speaking of free throws, it looks like Antawn may have finally shaken the bug. He's 16 for 20 in the playoffs, or 80%. Even Shaq is hitting two out of three. Maybe all that extra FT shooting in practice is starting to pay off.

"Cleveland needs to go small: The Cavaliers beat Boston twice this season, both times making heavy use of a smaller lineup featuring Anderson Varejao and J.J. Hickson getting major minutes. Shaquille O’Neal was injured during the first win and out during the second. He’s back now, and that might not be a good thing against a Boston offense that will look to pick-and-roll the lumbering O’Neal all night. Varejao bedeviled the Celtics all season but was a non-factor against Chicago- he’ll need to be in regular-season form. And J.J. Hickson has to- has to- play."

I brought this up a while back, about how Boston exploited Shaq relentlessly on the pick-and-roll. I saw some of that in the Chicago series as well. It will be interesting to see how this plays out and what Roker does to deal with it.

The one time this season where the Cavs blew out the Celtics was the game where they were missing both Z and Shaq. Lamovsky says Cleveland "needs to go small." I wonder if Roker agrees. I'm inclined to agree, but I think Shaq needs to be in there when Big Baby is on the floor, otherwise he'll bull his way to the rim and get offensive boards. The Cavs were outrebounded by Chicago and are somewhat vulnerable to a strong offensive rebounding team when Shaq sits. We'll find out what Roker has in mind starting tonight.

e0y2e3 wrote:Alls I am saying Poove is that right now Boston is a starving lost and beaten former alpha dog. That dog didn't really eat anything for the rest of the season but finally was gifted some rat to munch on in the first round.

Giving them one of those first two games would be equivalent to giving them a giant steak and while we could probably still put down the revitalized old bastard I don't really want to risk it.

Put your foot on that old dogs throat from the moment you step out of the gate and don't ever give it a chance to bite ya. If you do your now gambling and stranger things have happened in the NBA playoffs.

The Boston Sports Media suffers from Pluto disease on a large scale. A very old guard of formerly good/hugely accomplished guys that just refuse to move on w/ their careers and coast through everything and/or turn into that asshat.

Re-skimming this thread reminds me a lot of reskimming the Browns draft thread. Most people allow their personal wants and desires become their expectations. Groupthink forms an opinion and people are happy to be in the group w/numbers. Nothing wrong with that, it's what makes us fans.

I hate when TV and radio guys lay out predictions and never go back to man up. It appears that I failed to call the series at all, but thought the Cavs would win. My philosophy of using speed to run the c's off the court was were not in the game plan.

My prediction looks real good if you replace Celtics with Cavaliers and add 1 game to the total... I'd say most here are on the level of rational analysis. You can really tell when one of the core guys here starts wavin' the banner, and going homer...

"When a man with money meets a man with experience, the man with experience leaves with money and the man with money leaves with experience."

While everyone was worried about KG on O vs Jamison, I thumped my chest and stated that Boston should be more worried about a gimped up KG defending Jamo. I expected Jamison to be moving sideline to sideline underneath and working the p&r w/ LBJ. Little did I expect KG to soak in the Hot Tub Time Machine and play like it was '08 after game 2.

Galley Boys are slop on top of a so-so burger and a bun you coulde get from a Covneninet food mart generic pack. They the Antoine Joubert of burgers; soft, sloppy, oozing grease and cheap sauce and extremely overrated by a biased fan base. Proof that if you throw enough cheap sauce shit on a burger you still can't overcome the lame burger. -JB

I don't think picking the Cavs was strictly a homer play, but, man I never saw this coming. I thought we got the wake-up call in the Bulls series, but that the team would gel instead of fall apart at the seams (of their defense).

We weren't alone, I think the honks on ESPN.com were Cavs across the board. Just a stunning defeat.

Galley Boys are slop on top of a so-so burger and a bun you coulde get from a Covneninet food mart generic pack. They the Antoine Joubert of burgers; soft, sloppy, oozing grease and cheap sauce and extremely overrated by a biased fan base. Proof that if you throw enough cheap sauce shit on a burger you still can't overcome the lame burger. -JB

i totally agree with you. cavs in 7 with each team winning a game on the others court.

"It's all about winning for me, and I think the Cavs are committed to doing that," he said. "But at the same time I've given myself options to this point, and like I said before, me and my team, we have a game plan that we're going to execute, and we'll see what we get."

^ Oh no, I was talking about the guy proclaiming this team is getting the whole enchilada

You know who you are!

Galley Boys are slop on top of a so-so burger and a bun you coulde get from a Covneninet food mart generic pack. They the Antoine Joubert of burgers; soft, sloppy, oozing grease and cheap sauce and extremely overrated by a biased fan base. Proof that if you throw enough cheap sauce shit on a burger you still can't overcome the lame burger. -JB

FTR, I don't know who's a troll, who is sarcastically being called a troll, who is unjustly called a troll, and who is commonly known on multiple sites as a troll. Nor do I have the inclination to try to decipher.